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Author Topic: Convention prices... :-(  (Read 7452 times)

Offline theDarkSide

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2011, 11:30:40 am »
At least Manchester would be more capable than my grandparent's town of Jackson NH!

Come on Drew...we could have it at Storyland. :)

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Offline dbeechum

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2011, 12:40:44 pm »
we could have it at Storyland. :)

Oh man.. I'm still sad that they closed Heritage next door. I honestly think I enjoyed it more than I did Storyland, but I was always a weird kid who could be motivated to do chores by a trip to the science museum.

 
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Offline denny

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2011, 01:04:20 pm »
I was always a weird kid

WAS??   ;)
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2011, 02:20:18 pm »
I hear you about the local club support, but I doubt 1200 homebrewers are going to come to Manchester, NH.
Personally I don't care all that much where it is.  I arrive wednesday, leave sunday, and rarely leave the hotel.  There's just too much to do right there.  I would be great if I could go early and do some exploring, but my wife isn't going for that yet.

So if you have enough local support, a decent airport, a big enough venue, and a reasonable room rate, I think you should submit a bid.

I'd like to see a VA or NC one too!
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Offline SiameseMoose

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2011, 02:39:49 pm »
If you're in a place that wants to host it, it's fairly easy to get enough local support. When we did it here in Cincinnati, once we made it known we were making a bid, a lot of people stepped up with offers of help. Once we actually won the bid, people came out of the woodwork to help! The local Convention and Visitors Bureau was also a big help.

I think the tough part is finding a hotel. It has to be pretty darn big to handle the size we're grown to, with plenty of meeting space. At it's 2010 size, there is no longer a hotel in Cincinnati big enough to host, and we had it here only a few years ago (2008). The even harder part is finding a place willing to allow outside alcohol. For most hotels, that's a total non-starter. When getting bids here, one banquet manager essentially threw us out. Another made a bid, and then corporate made them retract it. No outside-alcohol events at all for Hilton.
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Offline MDixon

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #20 on: January 12, 2011, 03:18:34 pm »
The ideal locale in NC is of course Asheville, but the airport is minuscule and there is no large convention facility. The better airports are over an hour away and it would strain everyone to do it, so I doubt it would happen. Raleigh or Charlotte could put on the show from a facility standpoint, but our club isn't large enough to host in Raleigh and IMO Charlotte isn't quite there from a pre-conference standpoint unless the brewery tour was to Asheville (not an impossibility and potentially a HECK of a good time). The Charlotte club is massive and certainly has the manpower to handle it, the willpower might be another story  ;)
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2011, 04:04:41 pm »
The Charlotte club is massive and certainly has the manpower to handle it, the willpower might be another story  ;)
That's the biggest obstacle, it's a huge lift and you need to have motivated people.

Mike, is yours the only club in the RDU area?  I would have guessed there were more or at least one large club.
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Offline punatic

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #22 on: January 12, 2011, 10:42:48 pm »
The airports are interesting on the way to and from the conference hotel! :)

...and just think, if it weren't for those silly TSA rules, the flights themselves could also be "interesting"

San Diego is about as close as it will ever get for me now.  I have even made a hotel reservation.  Don't know if I'm up for flying commercial anymore.  Way too much invasion of privacy for my liking.

Take it back to NOLA again and I'll swim through the Panama Canal to get there if I have to!
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Offline phillamb168

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #23 on: January 13, 2011, 12:13:13 am »
Talked to the wife about it and she immediately said, "Don't worry about me, if you want to go you should!" So maybe I'll be there after all ;-)

So, I suppose having the NATIONAL Homebrewer's Convention in Paris is out? There are no open container laws here, you know.
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Offline euge

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #24 on: January 13, 2011, 12:22:19 am »

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #25 on: January 13, 2011, 12:28:47 am »
Talked to the wife about it and she immediately said, "Don't worry about me, if you want to go you should!" So maybe I'll be there after all ;-)

So, I suppose having the NATIONAL Homebrewer's Convention in Paris is out? There are no open container laws here, you know.
I'm going to do my best to make it no matter where it is, and I think if you could guarantee 1500 attendees the AHA might go for it.

And open container laws are mostly irrelevant, like I said, I rarely leave the hotel.  Too much going on and too much homebrew to be had.  For Paris though, I could see turning it into a real vacation!
Tom Schmidlin

Offline alikocho

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #26 on: January 13, 2011, 05:28:09 am »
  It should be a little cheaper for me this year since it's on the West coast, but in the past several years the conference has been in locations closer to you.  Roughly by distance from France . . . places like Baltimore, Orlando, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Denver, Las Vegas, Oakland . . . so no, it's not always on the West coast.

I feel I should point out that the difference in Transatlantic flights isn't that great between East and West Coast as the polar route is roughly the same flight time/distance as crossing the Atlantic.
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Offline alikocho

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #27 on: January 13, 2011, 05:32:17 am »
Talked to the wife about it and she immediately said, "Don't worry about me, if you want to go you should!" So maybe I'll be there after all ;-)

So, I suppose having the NATIONAL Homebrewer's Convention in Paris is out? There are no open container laws here, you know.
I'm going to do my best to make it no matter where it is, and I think if you could guarantee 1500 attendees the AHA might go for it.

And open container laws are mostly irrelevant, like I said, I rarely leave the hotel.  Too much going on and too much homebrew to be had.  For Paris though, I could see turning it into a real vacation!

I'd come to Paris for sure - even take the train. But in all seriousness, maybe those of us in Europe should think about putting together an annual European convention. Think of all the great brewing cities we could go to!
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Offline MDixon

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #28 on: January 13, 2011, 05:34:13 am »
Mike, is yours the only club in the RDU area?  I would have guessed there were more or at least one large club.

We have two clubs in the area, Carboy and Trub is 20 min down the road in Durham. Trub is more into the tasting aspect. We have clubs scattered across the state, DEA, ATF, BBG, CBM, MALT, High Country, CLASS, Worthawgs...I might be missing one. The problem is NC is a wide state. MALT's (Asheville) closest club is an hour away, next 1.5, then 2.5, 4, 5.5...so it makes it tough to offer assistance. CBM (Charlotte) closest are about 1-1.5 hours, and I believe they could handle it, but they already put on a beer festival for 5000 people and it drains their members and takes a ton of planning. The NHC would really be a killer.
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Offline phillamb168

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Re: Convention prices... :-(
« Reply #29 on: January 13, 2011, 09:15:53 am »
Talked to the wife about it and she immediately said, "Don't worry about me, if you want to go you should!" So maybe I'll be there after all ;-)

So, I suppose having the NATIONAL Homebrewer's Convention in Paris is out? There are no open container laws here, you know.
I'm going to do my best to make it no matter where it is, and I think if you could guarantee 1500 attendees the AHA might go for it.

And open container laws are mostly irrelevant, like I said, I rarely leave the hotel.  Too much going on and too much homebrew to be had.  For Paris though, I could see turning it into a real vacation!

I'd come to Paris for sure - even take the train. But in all seriousness, maybe those of us in Europe should think about putting together an annual European convention. Think of all the great brewing cities we could go to!

Now that's an idea. But seriously, there is no governing body for this sort of thing in Europe (at least nothing of which I am aware) - is there any precedent for the AHA pairing up with an equivalent sister organization in another country or region? There's not a whole lot of homebrewing going on around me but I know there's a decent amount elsewhere, although it's never been organized.

Seriously this would be a cool thing - the European Homebrewers' Association.
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